flight paths discussion

Please share and discuss the books you read/are reading the week of Aug. 14-20.

Today I could have easily finished a walk in the hindu kush. Instead I slowed down to linger on the mountain, attempting to share the authors extreme relief at nearing the end of his reckless journey, but in fact I am sad to leave.
I will probably pick up another of his books before the week is through.
I made a fabulous lunch today based on one of the recipes in
The Stars Compel

Even though I practically never cook, your comment almost inspired me to buy The Stars Compel. I can imagine myself doing almost anything.

But I decided to imagine buying the book & save the money. For a few days anyway.

I'm switching my reads between Death and the Penguin and something a little lighter. Well, ok, a lot lighter. In fact, it's so light, it's a good thing I downloaded it on my pc from the library or it would undoubtedly float right out of my hands. It's *red-faced* Death by Panty Hose by Laura Levine. I actually don't even want to like this series but I do anyway. It makes me laugh in the most obvious ways.

I'm also finishing up a first reads win The Leftovers which (like so much of Tom Perrotta) either funny in a depressing way or depressing in a humorous one, depending on how I tilt my mind. Or, sometimes, I feel both effects simultaneously. Which may be why I like it in a not-a-big-rush to finish it way or dislike it in a can't-stop-reading-it kind of way, although definitely more towards the first reaction, I think than the second.

I also won Susan Orlean's Rin Tin Tin which I loved at first & now like the writing but am struggling to keep getting through. I should have remembered that I don't like dogs, stories about them, or (for that matter) poor old Rin Tin Tin.

I also won Larry Woiwode's Words Made Fresh: Essays on Literature and Culture from LibraryThing which I'm enjoying. I like essays & I like Woiwode.

Ellie wrote: "Even though I practically never cook, your comment almost inspired me to buy The Stars Compel. I can imagine myself doing almost anything.

But I decided to imagine buying the book &..."

in fact, this is the sequel to The Stars Dispose which sets the stage for this one and also contains some wonderful recipes.

How do you keep winning these books?

I am on another book hunt this week.
It is called stranger from abroad,about Hannah Arendt and Martin Heideggger. KJ is reading it, and it shows up fine on our members page and on my tbr shelf, but it wont appear with the add book feature here. Go figure.

I keep winning these books as a punishment for my hating to read anything I have to! I keep swearing I'm not gong to try for any more but then go ahead & do so.

And I try for a lot more than I win! :)

hmmm...are you saying that winning is losing, because once you have won it, you feel obliged to read it, and that makes you resist reading it?

but where/how does this happen?

This week should start and finish Flowers for Alys by Irene M. Redpath.

Making progress on The Idiot.

& thinking - perhaps a rare commodity !

I really liked Flowers for Alys.

I should finish Death and the Penguin, make some significant progress in both The Recognitions and Call It Sleep, finish at least 2 of my first-read wins (probably The Leftovers, since I'm nearly done that, and Words Made Fresh: Essays on Literature and Culture, since I'm enjoying the essays). And I'd like to read a couple of light cozies-probably Agatha Raisin and the Murderous Marriage since Agatha a cranky old girl (around my age, all right, a little younger) and Snobbery With Violence-both by M.C. Beaton since I enjoy her.

My vacation started today!

Oh, right, and I want to finish Forgive Me, which I'm about half-finished & really liked until suddenly I didn't care any more (hope I can get back into it), and Swamplandia! which I downloaded from the library, really liked the beginning but then not so much as it went on. And Nights at the Circus which is on my 12+2 challenge & I'm almost finished after about halfway to forever.

If I have any extra time on my hands, though, I'd also like to read some more of Graham Greene's short stories.

Why isn't there more time? Why can't I read faster? !!

>Why isn't there more time? Why can't I read faster?

Ellie, I suppose every one of us has muttered or screamed these words. No one, I suppose, will ever come up with an answer.

When I am reading, time is collapsed. I am here and I am not here at the same time. I am here but I am also wherever the book takes me.
I live in the book whilst I am reading it, not only while I am actually reading it but during the time frame, even when I am going about daily activities.

I have fantasies about making best use of my time but it seems I have enough to do. It's more about allowing myself to be in time, not overwhelmed by it.

And Ellie,because of your fondness for Agatha Raisin I was able to know who she was when someone called the store asking if we had any of her books. Thanks.
Have a swell vacation!

But where I torture myself (sometimes) is: do I make the "best" use of that time & that's where I have to trust that many different choices may all equal "best use."

And I'm loving my vacation so far-yesterday, Katie & I went to Jones Beach-first time I've been there since I was very little. It was great-& much closer than Montauk. And I finished Death and the Penguin there. I do make some odd beach reading choices. Except for the time I read Capote: A Biography, my choices are rarely "light" in the usual sense of that word! And I read that book when it first came out, 20+ years ago.

I do remember it as being an exceptionally fine & fascinating biography.

Magdelanye wrote: ">Why isn't there more time? Why can't I read faster?

Ellie, I suppose every one of us has muttered or screamed these words. No one, I suppose, will ever come up with an answer.

When I am reading..."

I'm happy about Agatha. Those are the little moments that make me believe in synchronicity.